The Hunt
by Alby Mangroves
Summary: As The Hunter finally catches up to The Hunted, which of them will be the prey? A lemony two-shot written in the canon spirit, canon pairing, mystery until the last. Romance.
1. The Hunter

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Twilight, though any original storylines are mine.

**A/N:** This was my first foray into writing fanfic, posted in January 2010. My apologies in advance about the fact that this is as purple as prose can get, it was well before I knew the meaning of the word Beta, or self-restraint for that matter… Still, I loved writing it, and I hope you don't hate reading it. Let me know, won't you?

**V^^V V^^V V^^V V^^V V^^V**

She lay completely still as the thunderclap rolled lazily across the sky. The raindrops spattered into puddles at my feet, and I was suddenly aware of warm, amber rays of late afternoon sun, cutting through the intermittent clouds above us. We were caught in one such ray, and her face was indescribable.

The facets of her diamond-like skin refracted the light, and sent amber-tinged hexagonal rainbows into my eyes. The light came from behind her, and she was but a dusky silhouette trapped in her own unearthly halo. Her golden eyes shone with the strength of her fury. Thick mud caked her hair, and it lay in messy ropes across her throat, and down her back. I felt my own breath rattling around in my chest, and realised I'd been holding it. I pulled air into my lungs, and inhaled deeply, rewarded with the smell of rich loam, vibrant moss, spring rain, and finally, her.

It had been only seconds since I tripped her legs out from under her, and sent her sprawling gracelessly into the muddy forest floor. She might be younger, but I was still faster, I noted with satisfaction.

Her furious, narrowed eyes tracked mine, as I took her in. She was clothed in her hunting garb, close-fitting jeans and top, which wouldn't flap around and inhibit her speed and ease of movement as she ran, nor make a lot of noise and warn off her quarry. There were snags and rips all over her clothes, from the barbed brushes she swept through earlier, in her effort to outrun me. No such luck. It had taken several minutes, but I eventually gained on her, ran her down and swept her feet out from underneath her, ending her escape in this muddy forest clearing. And here she was before me, on her back, knees slightly raised, supporting herself on her elbows, her claw-like fingers splayed into the muddy soil around her.

From the wet and filthy tendrils of hair plastered across her neck, to her slim jean-encased legs, slightly apart and moored ankle-deep in the mud, this image of her was burned into my retinas. The otherworldly glow cast by the setting afternoon sun behind her enveloped her completely. I was stunned, and couldn't look away. She was breathtaking.

As I devoured her with my eyes, the rain intensified around us. It ran in rivulets down my body, I felt it soak my shoulders, plastering my t-shirt to my stone back even as I sensed the radiance she threw off bathing my face, my arms, my mud-spattered chest. I was vaguely aware of my own clothing flapping in the slight breeze, having been shredded in those same barbed brushes which had torn gaping holes all over her shirt. As I watched, the rain washed off some of the filth spattering her torso. Her iridescent skin shone through the rips. Like magic; I thought to myself incoherently. Just as the dying sun cut swathes of light through the clouds, so too her marble skin's rainbow rays cut through the ripped fabric of her clothing where the rain had washed her clean. She literally shone, laying there in the dirt and mud, at my feet.

I wasn't aware that I had moved, but somehow my own hand appeared before me, reaching out towards her. Ever so slowly, as though unintentionally, I stretched my fingers towards where she lay motionless. At the sight of my stance lowering and extending towards her, she pulled back her lips, and exposed her glistening teeth. A drawn-out hiss forced its way clearly through those razor sharp teeth, a timely warning that she was not defenseless, nor unprepared. She was also a predator, and a deadly opponent, not to be taken for granted. I continued lowering myself towards her, settling on one knee in the mud beside her feet, my other foot planted firmly; in case I needed the leverage to push away from her suddenly. My hand continued its descent to her, my index finger extending towards a rainbow shard that cut a swathe of light through a hole in her pants. I could see now that the seam of her jeans had come apart on the inside of her left thigh, only inches from the junction of her legs. My index finger came to a halt only a hair's breadth away from the split seam. Purposefully, I forced myself just slightly lower towards her, and ever so slowly placed my finger alongside the torn seam, resting it on her thigh. For the second time in as many minutes, I realised I had been holding my breath.

We both jumped slightly as contact was made. Her hiss hung in the air, mingling with another sound. A growing rumble shook the air around us as another thunderclap moved through the forest canopy.

Having made contact with her cool skin, my finger wormed its way ever so slowly inside the tear of her jeans. I felt her gaze on me, as my finger encountered resistance at the exact place where the seam barely held together against her thigh.

I lifted my eyes to her face so I could see her exquisite mouth as I forced the seam slightly with my finger. Although I applied but a little pressure, it disintegrated immediately, opening the crotch of her jeans and ripping down the length of her smooth thighs. Her eyes were huge, almost of out place in their delicate frame. Her mouth opened in surprise, teeth unclenching. I wondered at my own audacity.

My eyes left her face, and panned down, helplessly drawn between her legs. My extended hand turned into a restraint, as I brought it down and clasped the junction of her hip and thigh. I held her in place there, while the sensation of touching her sent blazes of electricity up my arm, into my body, directly to my groin.

I looked up to see that the shock on her face was replaced by a calculating glare. She bucked against my hand and would have thrown herself backwards and away from me, towards the tree line; presumably to fight or flight. I resisted the impulse to throw my weight over her to hold her down, and instead quickly threw out my other arm, my flattened palm slapping loudly onto her rain-soaked sternum, my fingers splayed between her breasts. I pressed lightly, and she gave way under me, falling backwards into the mud. I watched as the rain drops fell against her lips, seeping into her open mouth. Her speculative eyes never left my face as I bent slightly towards her, lowering my face to hers. I drew a line across her cheekbone with the tip of my nose, inhaling lightly. Her scent sent a shiver through me. She smelled like salvation.

Unable to stop myself, I opened my mouth, and licked her, from her chin, across her glorious mouth, to her cheek. She exhaled sharply, with a hiss, her fingers digging into the mud at her sides. I had her. She would not run now. Not now.

As I lifted my eyes, her head fell backwards and the afternoon sun finally reached her face. The vermillion light found her, and she shone like the sun. I glanced down and followed the slick line of her jaw and throat to the slight depression between the clavicles. My own hand was still splayed across her sternum. I liked it there. I lowered my face once more, drawing back lips and baring my teeth. I found the edge of her shirt, and nipped it between my teeth, slowly tearing away. A piece of fabric came away from her soaked skin, and I discarded it, returning to the same place again and again, until my gentle grazes exposed the tender flesh of her bare breast. The sensation of holding her down like this, exposing her vulnerability, bending her to my will, was intoxicating. My nose and mouth were slick against her wet skin, I wanted to devour her, I wanted to crawl inside her skin. My mouth found her nipple, hard and puckered and wet, and closed around it mindlessly, licking and sucking at her, lapping the rainbow shards. I licked her breast with long strokes, and buried my nose in it. I was an animal. I was the lust, and the hunt, and the base and primal need. I was only sensation. There was not a coherent thought in my head. I wanted only to feel. Vaguely, my mind registered her shuddering moan as my hands turned into claws and dug themselves into her exquisite flesh.

Her scent reached me in that moment and the intensity of it stunned me momentarily. I lifted my face slightly and followed it, down past my hand, over her taut stomach, past my other hand still embedded in her hip. I planted my face firmly amongst the shreds of her jeans in the crease of her thigh, and inhaled deeply. Reflexively, one hand dug into her hip, while the other sought out her bared breast and claimed it for my palm. I gripped it like it was a lifeline, her rock hard nipple peeking through between my clawed fingers. Her hips pushed against me, buttocks clenched, chest heaving with unneeded air. She growled like an animal, and I was lost. Galvanized with lust and need and the thrill of the hunt, I fisted my hand around the crotch of her panties and simply ripped a hole in them, burying my face between her legs. I licked, and sucked, and lapped at her with complete abandon, relishing the taste of her arousal, coating my face in her unique scent. I worked my tongue into every fold and crevice, ever seeking and never ceasing, relentless, driven only by my need to possess her, and in turn be possessed. Her mark was on me, I knew that I was hers. She owned me.

Her hips undulated beneath me, and I ground my face into her, licking and nipping at her flesh. I felt her swelling in my mouth, and almost laughed aloud in triumph. She tensed, and I felt her slim, insistent fingers snaking their way into my hair, her mud-caked hands fisting and pulling me even closer to her essence. Suddenly purposeful, I needed both my hands to steady her so I could concentrate my efforts, and I slid my arms under her thighs, my hands greedily grasping each buttock and lifting her up to me as I began to work my tongue and mouth in more deliberate patterns, the repetitive action drawing her into her ascent. I opened my eyes and zeroed in on her expression, I didn't want to miss any emotion that might flicker across her face. My eyes were as hungry for proof of her pleasure as my mouth was for the taste of it. I watched her come undone, mesmerized by her beauty, her mouth open, panting into the rain. Her thighs clamped around me as she bucked involuntarily against my mouth, shuddering and moaning vulgarities into the twilight sky. I held onto her tightly, my tongue still buried in her moist heat, savoring her flavor. Her thighs relaxed a little, and she softened in my hands, muscles still contracting erratically. I lowered her hips to the ground as she came down from her high, and I lay my head in her lap, eyes closed, nuzzling my face against her, gently licking and kissing her shuddering body until it stilled, her fingers still entwined in my hair.

To say I was stunned by this turn of events would be like saying that the Great War had been unfortunate. In this moment, I felt unequal to the task of summarizing my exact level of bewilderment.

She had rendered me completely incapable of rational thought and I had done the only base and primal thing that I could. I claimed her in the simplest and oldest way that there was. What's more, she had allowed me to do it.

I finally lifted my head from her lap and looked to her face, unsure of the expression I would find there. I may reasonably have expected embarrassment, or perhaps rage.

What I saw were neither of these things. I saw need.

Need, lust, and deadly purpose.

**V^^V V^^V V^^V V^^V V^^V**

**A/N:** Who are these guys? Your thoughts?


	2. The Hunted

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Twilight, though any original storylines are mine.

**V^^V V^^V V^^V V^^V V^^V**

It was eerie and beautiful here in the forest at this time of evening, a soft fog beginning to drop, collecting like an ethereal presence among the trees.

I lifted my head slightly, my tangled hair heavy with mud from the puddle where I lay. My hands relaxed and I loosened my grip on his mussed-up hair. My arms were rubbery, and I didn't trust them to support me just yet; I allowed them to slide uselessly into the mud at my sides. I looked down at his head and saw that his eyes were closed, his face nuzzling into the crease of my thigh. I felt his lips on me, laying gentle kisses on my still pulsing sex. He was loving this; my scent and my taste, and the fact that I'd just exploded in his mouth. His satisfaction was obvious, and the sight of his face lovingly buried in me for his own pleasure was the most arousing thing I'd ever seen.

Giddy, but no longer weak, I raised myself onto my elbows, and watched him raise his piercing eyes to mine. There was something surreal under their liquid gold surface, an unfathomable depth. When he caught and overpowered me just a few moments earlier, it was the undiluted want glittering in his eyes that made me still, because up until that moment I was strategizing a way to tear off back into the forest to continue my exhilarating escape.

Fat chance. As he pushed me down on the ground and held me there, I thought then that he would have me. And as he appraised me with those hypnotic eyes, I thought then that I would let him. But then he restrained me only to assault me with his eager mouth and I was overwhelmed. He had ripped my shirt to pieces… with his teeth! At this thought, liquid warmth spread through me, and suddenly I knew what I wanted to do. He had awoken an animal in me, I felt a primal urge to growl, and didn't resist it. The sound was thick between us, the resolve plain on my face, I was sure.

I raised one outstretched hand to his face. My palm ran a trail of gritty mud across his cheek and his ear, and I grasped a handful of his crazy hair. I levered up off my elbow and sat up, pushing him backwards, forcing him to take his turn lying back in the mud of the forest clearing. The sun was behind me and its dying glow illuminated his skin to make him look like some sort of shining diamond god. Already darkened with lust, his eyes followed mine as I straddled his hips. I held my weight off him, resting on my haunches, feeling the breeze on my recently exposed and moistened flesh.

Under normal circumstances, I might have been mortified that what I now wore amounted to crotchless pants, but the stage was already set. I was feeling the moment and following it through wherever it may lead and I pushed away burgeoning feelings of impropriety. I felt powerful in my determination. Still grasping his hair with one hand, I now lowered my other hand to his throat and closed my fingers around it slowly. Exerting just a little pressure, I tightened my fingers around his throat, wanting him to know that things were going to be done my way from now on.

I took a moment to look at him, to really see him lying beneath me. We were both splattered with mud, and the spring rain continued to drizzle over us, mingling with the last rays of the sun as distant thunder echoed in the forest. Water pooled in the slight depression in the centre of his chest. His t-shirt was soaked and plastered to his torso, defining every dip between bands of lean muscle across his chest and shoulders. An amber glow radiated from his skin and he lay vampire still beneath me. His physique was perfect; masculine and strong and carved from glittering shards of marble. His lips parted slightly and in my peripheral vision I saw movement as he raised his arms, intending to touch me. I thought I saw a glint of amusement in his eyes at the liberty I was taking, and damnit, I was not having that! Immediately, my fingers tightened on his throat and a hiss erupted from between my teeth. Wisely, he stopped moving, and brought his hands up alongside his head, laying them palms up in the mud, allaying the threat. There. Now he was mine, and knew it, the amusement replaced with wariness.

Wanting to stake my claim, I lowered my face to his, and sucked his bottom lip gently into my mouth. I tasted myself there; my own scent was all over him. It was beyond sexy; it was electrifying. The warmth I'd felt earlier was now a constant heat winding its way up my body from the pit of my gut. I licked his lips, tracing their outline, dragging and flicking my tongue across his mouth, again and again. I watched in fascination as errant rivulets of water ran into the corners of his mouth, his sharp teeth glistening between slightly parted lips. I lapped at the fragrant spring rain, and was rewarded with a ragged sigh, torn out of him despite himself. And all the while, he lay still as stone beneath me, watching, just as I had watched him earlier.

I let go of his hair slowly, leaving it spiky and caked with mud, and my hand snaked its way down to his shoulder. I firmly traced the contour of his upraised arm, then downward again to his chest, my palm flattened, fingers flexed. I held his throat firmly with one hand while the other explored the planes of his stone body. I watched his half-lidded eyes suddenly spring wide open as I shifted my weight and momentarily pressed myself down against him. His long fingers twitched and hands formed into fists as I applied more pressure against the erection I clearly sensed beneath his jeans. More than anything else at that moment, I felt powerful.

Raising myself up into a crouch, I brought my exploring hand down to his button fly, and slowly peeled each button away from its hole. The irony was not lost on me; he gave up his self-control when he mauled me in his rush of lust earlier, and I was now firmly grasping that control in my hand, taking my damn sweet time. I thought I saw appreciation of that same fact flicker briefly in his eyes as they bored into mine. I felt the back of my own hand against my slick skin as I unbuttoned the fly of his jeans, leaving the waistband closed and his belt still buckled.

It took all my self control not to groan wantonly when I realised there was nothing between his jeans and …_ him_. I forced my face to remain impassive, willing my body into submission. I'd be damned if I gave my hard-won control away now. I mentally steeled myself and manhandled him out through his unbuttoned fly and into the cool spring rain and dying sunlight. His dangerous feline eyes narrowed with anticipation.

Ever so slowly, I lowered myself down. Obediently, he lay still as I molded myself to him, both my hands now pressing down on his shoulders. Like a cat, I rubbed myself all over his body, flattening my breasts against him, marking him with my scent. I licked along his throat, nibbling his ear and the line of his jaw, my nipples dragging across his chest. I rolled myself up and down his hard torso, craving the wonderful friction of this uninhibited contact, our slick skins sliding against each other, our clothes tearing away into strips between us. A grin flickered across my face as his hands twitched with his need to touch me, and I bit down hard at the junction of his neck and shoulder to remind him to keep still. I was instantly rewarded with a sharp intake of breath and a lowly growled curse.

A thrilling rush swept through me at the notion of holding him in my thrall like this, and I leisurely licked the mark I had made, drawing the imprint of my teeth with the tip of my tongue. His long, sinewy body felt coiled and ready to spring from under me, and I knew I'd pushed him far enough. I slid myself lower down his chest, until I felt his erection directly against my slick, wet and very exposed flesh.

Immediately, we were both deathly still. I raised my eyes to his face, and like a deer in headlights, was impaled by his intense glare.

Watching those piercing eyes, I twisted and gyrated myself downward until I felt him right there, _right there_… and _oh God_ he was so hard, good, long and perfect as I wound my way down and down and further down onto him until I enveloped him, and it was so wet, so hot, and _so damn tight_ that my head lolled back and I moaned my pleasure and my power and my exhilarating domination of him into the forest around us, while he panted and groaned like an animal, his head sinking back into the mud.

All l I could do was to brace my hands against his shoulders and grind myself into him and onto him and all around him and then to claw my fingers into his biceps and pull myself back up over his slick, glistening, demi-god body only to do it again and again and again and _oh God…_ to fill myself up with his hardness, as his perfect hands fisted and dragged through his own wild hair and through the raked up filth all around us.

I marveled at the feeling of my own body shaping itself to sheathe his so perfectly and tensed my muscles rhythmically around his rock hard length, watching his face contorting between pleasure and disbelief as I created the ebb and flow over him. He was glorious beneath me, his heavy, half-lidded golden eyes blackened with lust, watching me so intently, watching my rain-soaked mouth and my tongue as I flicked it over my top lip and exhaled moan after moan into his throat and his neck and his stone chest.

The rays of the dying orange sun sent rainbow ricochets from his exposed, wet skin directly into my face, stunning me with intensity of colour and light. I heard his voice made gravelly and hoarse as he expelled growls and moans, timed to match my repeated assaults on his body. He flexed and pushed back against me, hungry for the friction we created together, until I clawed my fingers into his chest, locked my elbows, pushed off and straightened myself up over him, wanting to see what I'd created.

I'd worked him deep into the muddy forest floor, and it sucked at us wetly, at my knees and at his back. I rode him at my own pace and loved the squelching and moaning and grunting sounds we made together, abandoning ourselves to this sudden onslaught of lust. I gave up any pretense of propriety and plunged my hands into the mud, bringing fistfuls of it to my chest and smearing myself with it, rubbing it with open palms into my own breasts. His eyes wide open now, he watched me roll my nipples between my fingers and a broken, half-whispered profanity forced its way out of his mouth.

It was so primal and base and filthy that I ground myself down on his hardness clenching my muscles, grasping his hips firmly between my thighs, our eyes drawn to the place where we were joined. We both watched in fascination at the erotic image of our bodies coming together, grinding and slapping, made for each other. I sensed his eyes traveling upward and grasped myself firmly for him, digging my fingers into the flesh of my breasts. I felt him stiffening beneath me and lowered my face to his, my hands sliding up his wet arms and clasping both his hands in mine, stretching them high above his head and driving them deep into the mud. I licked his ear and whispered '…mine', then sank my teeth into his neck once more, hearing his teeth click together as he roared his climax into the canopy, bucking under me and sending rivulets of mud flying up to meet the rain.

Spent and panting, we sank down into the squelching mud together, slapping into the wet with our arms and legs intertwined.

**V^^V V^^V V^^V V^^V V^^V**

"We can't go back looking like this."

I looked down at myself, bottom lip wedged between my teeth. The wind was picking up, and my shirt hung in tatters around me, flapping around my bare breasts. Where my jeans once hung, there was now just a denim waistband, filthy rags hanging from it. I noted that all the belt loops were still intact. That was good; maybe I could hang some tree branches off them and make myself a skirt. I giggled at the unbidden and clearly ridiculous thought.

His mind was apparently traveling along the same path.

"Perhaps we could skin the deer before we bury them. I'm sure we could slap together a Betty Rubble tunic for you." Laughter danced in his eyes.

This game had panned out well. I didn't really know what had inspired me to run earlier, let alone to attempt evasion while he pursued me. I imagined it was the same thing that inspired him to lose his inhibitions and play along, running me down like prey until he had caught me.

We would need to retrace our steps back to our hunting ground and bury the evidence of our hunt in case humans came upon them in the woods. We would at the very least dismember them to help other animals carry off the carcasses. 5 deer, otherwise untouched but drained of their blood, might raise questions if found. I quirked a brow at him as I panned down his body, over his mud smeared, carved marble chest and down to the impossible V of his lower torso, the perfect fine line of hair leading down along his hard belly to meet remains of his jeans, which were now flapping like a hula skirt around his legs. I felt the wry smile on my lips.

"That'd be great. And while we're at it, we'll make you a moss loincloth."

He laughed, and his joy carried on the wind, bathing me in shared happiness. Fulfillment bear-hugged my chest, threatening to knock my wind out.

Fed up with the sound of flapping fabric, I tore the remains of my clothing right off. His laughter died, and his eyes darkened. He followed my example, and soon stood glorious, marked with my scent and deliciously naked before me. We stood there, drinking each other in, both bathed by the dying sun, skin refracting the light. The distance between our bodies was electrified. It felt like an aura, sparking and fizzing in the air around us with some kind of indefinable heat. He raised one hand to me, and ran the length of his index finger along the curve of my breast.

"I'm sure no one will mind if we don't return tonight, Bella. Let's take our time walking back. It's so scenic here, don't you agree?" his voice was low and despite his innocent words, urgent. Perhaps our game hadn't ended, I thought, pleasantly dizzy.

I wouldn't have known anything about the scenery. I was drowning in his liquid gold eyes, barely registering the rain on my skin. My skin tingled where he touched me, and I felt a sigh on my lips. My filthy hand lifted of its own accord and came to rest lightly on his hip, fingers tracing the hard line of muscle that ran down and inward, towards gently curling hair, his lean belly, and _oh my God_… I couldn't even form coherent thoughts. Dear God, he was beautiful.

And he was mine.

"Edward... yes." I breathed, uncertain if I'd said it out loud.

No, I was sure our family would not mind whenever we finally made it home, be it tomorrow or a week from now. They probably would not mind that we returned stark naked either, even if we looked like mud caked, dreadlocked, cave dwelling savages.

And if they minded, well, we had been married for 142 years. They'd get over it.

**V^^V V^^V V^^V V^^V V^^V**

**A/N**: Every guess and comment was highly appreciated and gratefully received. Thanks so much for reading, I hope I didn't bore you to tears with my version of Bella and Edward's canon HEA.


End file.
